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Wednesday, April 22, 2015

TheBlue Bullslogo in a colour newspaper advertisement was the stamp of
approval that convinced people that the investment opportunity being offered
was kosher.

It told readers that this was the “Business opportunity of a lifetime”
where they could earn a “Phenomenal income.”

It was said to involve a product used
in the medical and sporting fields that was already “successful in 43 countries.”

“Our
product is approved by theBlue Bulls Rugby Union
and other rugby unions and sports bodies
will follow shortly,” it claimed.

The investment required was R140 000.

The Blue Bulls is one of South Africa’s
best known rugby clubs and plays in the Super Rugby tournament under the Vodacom Blue Bulls name.

“TheBlue Bullslogo had a major impact in influencing
me toinvest,” said Rodney
Lauder a retired bank credit manager.

The ad appeared in the Beeld, the Afrikaans daily newspaper
that is said to be the most quoted paper in South Africa.

There were also others. One in the Sunday Times on 7 October 2012 for
instance made this unbelievable claim: “Earn R25 000 passiveincome every month from
January 2013.” The capital required was R250 000. To make it even more
enticing this ridiculous return was “Guaranteed
or your money back.”

Another one in the same paper on 14
October 2012 offered the same incredible income
and guarantee on R200 000 with payments beginning in December 2012.

At the bottom
of both these ads was the name of the company
The World Loves a Winner (TWLW) with
the same telephone number and an address at Hanger 2, RandAirport,
Germiston.

This RandAirport
address also appeared in the Beeld
advertisement and was where the owner of the company,
pilot KevinPearman had a flight school.

He left
RandAirport about three years ago and when I
asked the airport manager Stuart Coetzee what happened to the flight school he
replied:“I can’t tell you. I’m not getting into
that.”

The money entitled them to become licensees for Heat in a Click (SA) Ltd
(HIAC) represented by Jess Cawood,
although oddly all the shares were in the name of his wife Johanna Petronella
Cawood. It was suppose to have the exclusive South African rights to market the
products of the London
based Heat in a Click.

The products were said to consist of a
variety of re-usable heating pads to treat muscle and related ailments.

As the authorised broker Pearman had the investments paid into TWLW’s bank account. This was despite the fact that all the
licensing agreements were with Cawood’s company, which gave money back guarantees in the contracts
investors signed even though it had not been paid any of it.

On his heat pad website Pearman stated that a minimum of 50
stands would be placed in shopping malls to sell the product. It showed a
picture of a stand that was said to “produced
an average profit of R5 000a
day.”

It went on to say that a net profit
per stand was projected to be R150 000 per month and 50% of this would be
pooled to be shared equally by the licence holders.

On this basis if there were only 50
licence holders they would each receive a “passive
income of R75 000 per month.”

Other hard to believe claims on the
website included that “over thepast few months a feasibility of the
product was done here in South Africa by introducing it to a diverse range of
potential markets ranging from
doctors, school children, vets, maternity wards, physiotherapists, beauty
salons, spas and a variety of sportsmen such as rugby players, hunters and
fishermen, and this study proved that the product sells itself and that the
retail pricing is extremely affordable.”

“We
were never told anything about this and I don’t believe it was ever done,” Lauder told me.

The investors were not aware
that the Bulls club had never authoriZed for
its logo to be use in any investment promotingadvertisements.

Darryl Kroll, the Club’s brand promoter
had this to say when I sent him a copy of the Beeld ad.

“I’m flabbergasted;
we would never have approved that. I cannot believe how unscrupulous and
devious people can be. It saddens me.”

He told me that one of Cawood’s companies
was “licensed purely to distributeBullsbranded
Heat in a Click packs to retailers in SouthAfrica.”

“But
there was shortfall of the minimum guarantee and they were put in breach once
they did not pay.”

He added that they tried for months to
get hold of Cawood to get what they
were owed but he seemed to have disappeared. As far as he knew no Bulls
heat pads ever got to the market.

And
no stalls were ever put in any malls, according to Lauder.

Inevitably
the investors began complaining that
they had not received any of the promised
income. The money back guarantees in
the agreements they signed were not honour and they soon realised they had lost
all their money.

Pearman and
Cawood then accused each other of fraud.

“I’m
sure they were working together,” said Van
Zyl, an IT specialist. “We were told
so many lies.”

However Pearman denied this saying that he was duped by Cawood and that was the reason he laid a
fraud charge against him.

This was done at the Germiston Police station, but the
prosecutor declined to take it any further as it was regarded as a civil case
rather than a criminal one.

In an affidavit 62 year old Pearman, who lives at 21 Chaucer Avenue,
Senderwood, Bedfordview, Johannesburg,
stated that on the basis of an agreement he had with Cawood he recruited the investors. Approximately R500 000
went in his expenses and R441 475 was paid into the Absa Bank account of Cawood’s wife.

On 19 January 2013 he stopped doing
business with Cawood and in terms of
a termination agreement they both signed Cawood
agreed to continue with Heat in a Click
in the “best interests of the
investors.”

DISGRUNTLED INVESTORS HAVE OPENED THIS FACEBOOK PAGE

After this he was surprised to learn
that Cawood was doing nothing
further and in April 2013 he contacted the LondonHeat
in aClick only to be told that
they had not given Cawood the sole
South African rights and that “this
could be a fraudulent scam.”

In a letter to an Inspector at the Companies and Intellectual Properties Commission, to whom
the investors had complained, Cawood’s lawyer Neels Grobler said according to his client Pearman and his company
were only mandated to find buyers for the products.

“At no stage was he given permission to
obtained investors and at no stage didHeat in a
Clickreceive the money from the investors,” he wrote. “At no stage did Mr or Mrs Cawood
representing Heat in aClick sign
any of the investors’ contracts.

“We have appointed our own
forensic investigator to investigate charges of fraud against Mr Pearman.”

On 21 January 2013 Pearman sent a circular to the investors saying that “an extremely exciting new avenue has
opened up for oursister company which demands our total attention.
Consequently from today The World
Loves a Winner will no longer handle any responsibilities for Heat in Click.”

He referred them to Cawood and his company HIAC which he maintained was now in
full control of the business and “all
plans remainexactly the same.”

In a letter to the investors dated 28 February 2013 Pearman told them that although he had
ended his relationship with HIAC“we feltmorally obliged to ensure that none of the investors loses their
investment.”

For this reason he was putting pressure on Jess Cawood to honour his agreement to
put stands in shopping centres and to begin marketing the products.

“Rest assured we will make
good our promise to liquidate HIAC
and appoint a liquidator to manage the business in the sole interest of the
investors.”

He stated that his attorney Frik Weldhagen had been
instructed to do this immediately after the expiry of seven days unless he got
a satisfactory answer fromCawood.

Good hearted Kevin
added: “Please be aware that we areinstituting this action at our cost on
behalf of all investors and will not be seeking any contributions from you.”

But like a lot
of Kevin’s promises this never
happened. “There was no point in throwing good money after bad,” he told me.

THE FACEBOOK PAGE

He assured me he was not a crook and proof of this was
that he had even given one investor their money back towards the end. Asked who
this was he could neither name the person nor give me the amount involved.

Eddie Mabusela, who had a small construction business in Pretoria, told me that the
loss of his investment affected him “big
time.”

“I’m broke,” he said. “I put all my savings into this and theyducked and dived.”

Pearman once
told me he has never hurt anyone. I suppose leaving somebody
“broke” doesn’t count and taking hundreds of thousands of rand from people, many of whom
could ill afford to lose it, doesn’t count either.

Regards,

Jon, the Consumer Watchdog
who stands upfor the less fortunate when nobody else will.

P.S. When Rodney
Lauder began complaining that
there had been “misappropriation of
funds and a total misrepresentation of the business” he started getting
anonymous calls on his landline in the middle of the night. Odd that, as I had
the same experience (See my post “Blog that nobody
reads.”).

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About Me

I was born in South Africa just before the Boer War whenever that was?
Started life with a golden spoon in my mouth which made eating rather difficult as a result I was under nourished as a child.
Went to a posh school where I only got moved up a class when my old man donated another sight screen for the cricket pitch.
Career prospects were dismal and I was once turned down for a job in the London sewers. "Too highly qualified;"that’s what they said.
I became a journalist when the Police Force wouldn’t have me.
Like most journos I know nothing about everything but I still write about it.
I decided to have my own blog so I wouldn't have to drink with the editor for hours on end to get my stuff published when according to my independent assessment it’s always of great news value.
My religious beliefs are: You only die once so remember, "You can’t be serious and Have Fun."
NEWS FLASH: I've just been appointed the Poor Man's Press Ombudsman by Presidential Decree (Not to be confused with the PRESS COUNCIL OF SOUTH AFRICA'S, SA Press Ombudsman)